Zhang Chunqiao

Zhang Chunqiao (1 February 1917-21 April 2005) was a Chinese politician and a member of the influential "Gang of Four" during the Cultural Revolution.

Biography
Zhang Chunqiao was born in Heze, Shandong, China in 1917, and he worked as a writer in Shanghai during the 1930s. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1938, and he became a prominent journalist following the communist seizure of power in 1949. He met Jiang Qing in Shanghai and assisted in starting the Cultural Revolution, creating the Shanghai Commune in 1967 with the help of Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan. He served as chair of the city's Revolutionary Committee, serving until 1971. In 1969, he joined the Politburo of the CPC, and he was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee in 1973. In January 1975, he became Vice-Premier, and he was arrested during Ye Jianying's conspiracy following Mao Zedong's death in 1976. He was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and he was released in 1998 to undergo medical treatment. He died in Shanghai in 2005 from pancreatic cancer.